Cassidian has developed what the company claims to be the world’s most powerful radar for battlefield surveillance for use by the German Armed Forces. Owing to a combination of the latest technologies, this ground surveillance radar under the German Army designation “Bodenüberwachungsradar” (BÜR) can track movements on the ground, in the air close to the ground and over water, with previously unattainable precision, speed and reliability.
The BÜR system is based on the latest electronic scan control technology – Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) – which opens up completely new possibilities for detection and surveillance. Thanks to delay-free electronic beam scanning, the radar can perform multiple reconnaissance tasks at the same time, thus achieving a much greater level of efficiency and reliability in comparison to mechanically scanned radars. Each BÜR system can therefore assume the tasks of several conventional radars.
The high performance of the radar is largely due to the great number of transmitter and receiver modules in the antenna, which are made from special HF-capable materials and are developed and manufactured at Cassidian’s Ulm, Germany, site under clean-room conditions.
After being accepted by the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) and supplementary testing by the army, the ground surveillance radar development project was successfully completed with the delivery of two system demonstrators and a set of mobile workshop equipment. This demonstrated the feasibility of the system and that the precondition for the planned procurement of 48 production BÜR systems has been met.
“The BÜR system represents a quantum leap in the area of battle field surveillance,” explained Dr. Elmar Compans, Head of Cassidian’s Sensors & Electronic Warfare unit. “With this, the German Army can close a gap in its capabilities in the area of intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, thus significantly increasing its performance and the protection of its soldiers.”
